The Curse of Attraction
by Hermione'sDaughter
Summary: "Potter cursed me!" Draco whined. "Malfoy cursed me!" Harry grumbled. Theo just smirked knowingly. Drarry, slash. IN PROGRESS
1. The Symptoms Arise

**Hey guys! A big thanks to HogwartsApprentice for being a fabulous beta. All comments and constructive criticism is extremely appreciated!  
Love,  
~Hermione's Daughter**

 **XxXxXxXxXxX**

"You'd think he would have grown out of it by now," Hermione said, shaking her head in exasperation. Harry agreed. They both looked at their best friend Ron, who currently had two chicken drumsticks in both hands and was alternating bites between them. Feeling the weight of their stares, he looked up.

"Whaygt?" he exclaimed indignantly, a few bits of chicken flying out of his mouth. Hermione, sitting opposite him, ducked; the chicken landed on a blonde Hufflepuff sitting on the table behind.  
Harry grinned.

It was their fifth year at Hogwarts, and judging by the absolutely horrendous, hideous, pink – thing – sitting at the Staff Table, the quality of DADA class wasn't going to change much either.

Harry chanced a look over at the Slytherin table. A flash of white hair, a wide smirk and a shiny Prefects badge corrupted his glimpse. _Malfoy._ Harry rolled his eyes. The boy – or should it be man? – in question glanced up and coincidentally met his enemy seeker's bright green eyes.

Harry felt a bizarre fluttering in his stomach he hadn't felt before. The molten lead of Draco Malfoy's eyes stared at him; a questioning raise of one pale, delicate eyebrow, and the weight was gone.

Harry frowned into his plate. What in Merlin's name was that? He looked back up to see if it would happen again, but Malfoy refused to meet his gaze again.

Harry was pulled out of his thoughts when Ron captured Harry's attention with an intriguing story from the summer involving the twins, a toad, and an unruly garden gnome. He would ponder over this new development later.

 **XxXxXxXxXxX**

Draco Lucius Malfoy was sitting at the Slytherin table at the opening feast for his fifth year inside the _esteemed_ school he was forced to learn at, only half listening to his best friend Blaise, who was chatting his ear off about something or other that had happened that summer. Theo was not-so-subtly eyeing off a rather hot looking Ravenclaw.

Draco rolled his eyes, looked up at the Head Table and nodded at his godfather, who nodded back with the barest hint of a smile on his truthfully greasy-haired face. _Mental note: remind Uncle Sev to buy_ _ **Sleekeazy's Super Strong Serum**_ _– maybe, just maybe, it might do something to that mop_. Draco grinned to himself. He took a delicate bite off a delicious chicken drumstick. The elves at home were good cooks, sure, but nothing could beat the food at Hogwarts.

Just as he had finished off his delectable chicken drumstick, Draco felt the weight of someone gazing at him. Black hair, green eyes that could stare into your soul, and of course, the scar. _Potter._ Who else?

He met the other boy's eyes, raising an eyebrow in question. Bright green assaulted his vision. His stomach suddenly lurched, almost painfully. What had Potter done to him?

Draco immediately looked away, and though he felt his gaze on him multiple times after that, he refused to look back up. He would have to ask Blaise about this later, or consult some books from the Slytherin library. This was not normal.

 **XxXxXxXxXxX**

The first class of the year just _had_ to be with the Slytherins. In fact, practically every class this year was with them. Oh, except for Creatures, but Harry was pretty sure no Slytherin was taking the class anyway. Did the world just hate him, or had he done terrible things in a past life he didn't know of?

Harry inwardly shrugged. He'd just have to suffer through it for now. He bumped shoulders with Neville as a way of greeting as they filed into the fume-filled room. Neville looked up, and his face betrayed… almost… constipation? No, it must be nerves. Of course, it was Potions. _Sorry, Nev_.

He shot a glare at the green and silver ties that were shoving through the Gryffindors to reach seats at the front, but feeling a gentle punch as one swept past, he shot a small grin at Theo. He had met the blatantly homosexual boy in Charms last year, when they had to work together for a project.

The Slytherin had helped Harry to accept his own bisexuality though they both had a mutual agreement that they were just friends, and nothing more. Theo also had some weird notion that Harry was perfect for someone he knew, but no matter how much Harry tried, he could not get a name out of him.

"You'll figure it out," Theo would say, every single time, "and if you don't, well, let's just say I am not adverse to locking you two in a closet and not letting you out until you finally snog."  
Harry knew that this threat was not a bluff, either, though Theo would always say it with a god-damn know-it-all twinkle in his eyes.

Theo and Hermione together were completely too much to take. The two boys had forced their friends to be civil, at the very least, to each other, and Harry now knew that Blaise, and to a lesser extent, Draco, were not nearly as bad as he thought.

Draco. Weirdly, Harry's stomach fluttered at the thought. Malfoy was such an enigma. Harry and he had been mutual enemies since First Year. Somehow, that had dissolved into just ignoring each other. It was better than before, at least.

Theo was delighted when they finally stopped glaring at each other in the hallways. Harry had been shocked to realise that Malfoy actually did not follow the Death Eater ideologies – neither did Blaise or Theo, for that fact. Apparently Draco had a Muggle friend when he was very small; Harry didn't know much about it, but he was still extremely happy he was not 'evil'.

Harry got jolted out of his thoughts by a particularly greasy looking professor, who immediately zoned in on poor Neville, sending him a glare that made the mousy boy quiver in his seat.

"As you should hopefully already know, at the end of the year you will be sitting the _OWLs_ examinations, which will be the sole factor in deciding which _NEWT_ standard classes you will take next year. It is for this reason that there must be _absolutely_ no distractions in this class. I have surmised the only resolution is to put you all in a seating plan," Snape sneered at the class.

Everyone groaned. The last time Slytherins and Gryffindors were forced to work together in Potions, it had ended with the classroom reeking of flobberworm mucus for a week and looking like a rainbow had melted inside the room (they had been making colour change potions).

"And before you remind me of that… _incident_ … I find it prudent to let you all know that if I discover _one person_ not collaborating productively with their partner, _every single one of you_ will be helping Professor Hagrid bathe infant Blast-Ended Skrewts."

Harry had to give it to him, Snape sure did know how to keep a class in line.

"I would like the people called to _immediately_ join their partner at a desk, and begin making Boil-Cure Potion by memory. Millicent Bulstrode and Pavarti Patel…"

Harry zoned out. He shot Ron a sympathetic grimace when Crabbe dragged his stuff next to the regretful red-head. Praying to be put with Theo, or at least Blaise, he sighed as Hermione started chatting happily to Theo and Blaise looked on boredly when Dean Thomas sat next to him.  
"…and last, Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy."

 **XxXxXxXxXxX**

Draco was having a very bad day.

First, he couldn't find anything to remedy the symptoms that arose whenever Potter was near to him, and he had read _1001 Jinxes and Curses and their Cures_ three times straight.

Secondly, Blaise just rolled his eyes and redirected him to Theo who, upon confiding in his symptoms, had grinned almost maliciously and refused to tell him anything.

And last of all, he had been partnered with the devil himself thanks to his _dear_ godfather. Draco would tell him of his problem later and plead with him to find a cure.

"Alright Malfoy, let's just get this done." Potter was looking down at him, hints of annoyance arising in his eyes.

Draco sighed, looking down. "Fine."

As Potter headed over to the Potions storeroom, Draco glared at his back. _What_ was the reason for all this? His palms felt clammy from that small encounter.

Potter dumped items unceremoniously on the desk upon returning.

"You forgot the horned slugs."

 **XxXxXxXxXxX**


	2. Plotting and Potions

**A/N. Thanks, again, to HogwartsApprentice. Please go check out the collabs I've done with her on her account! If you don't laugh, I'll eat my hat.  
Also, I'll try to put a bit more action into the next chapter, if you guys want ;D**

 **Disclaimer: I, most unfortunately, do not own Harry Potter or any characters in this fanfiction.**

 **XxXxXxXxXxX**

"Ah, young love."

"Talking to yourself again, Albus? You should find yourself a partner! It has been much too long. Have you even been on a date since Grindlewald?"

The Albus Pervical Wulfric Brian Dumbledore in question, however, just chuckled at the portrait of Professor Dippet.

"Armando, I have been much too busy. Besides, it brings me great joy to watch the students fall in love during their teenage years."

"You paedophile!" squealed an old woman from one of the portraits, her eyes widening and her hands waving all over the place. "I knew we shouldn't have let a _homosexual_ man become headmaster-"

The portrait of Ambrosus Swott interrupted. "That's _enough_ , Phyllida. Albus is an outstanding headmaster, and you know it."

Albus smiled softly at the compliment, but nevertheless tuned out the squabbling portraits. Instead, he walked over to the fireplace and grasped a handful of Floo Powder. He needed to talk to Severus.

Perhaps the Potions Master might not be adverse to a little, ahem, _match making_.

 **XxXxXxXxXxX**

Theo grinned at Draco. They were in the Slytherin Common Room, in front of the fireplace, and opposite Theo was one of his best friends unknowingly confirming his ironic crush on the one and only golden boy.

Unbeknownst to both Draco and Harry, Theo had shipped them together long before getting to know them both. _Drarry,_ Theo had decided to call them. Their arguments just _screamed_ sexual tension; not to mention, they looked utterly cute together.

Right from first year, when Harry rejected Draco's handshake and ultimately friendship in general, the blonde couldn't stop talking about him. Not necessarily in a good way, of course, but Theo swore it was borderline obsession. This only increased, year after year, until Theo decided he could definitely call it 'obsession' when not a day went by without hearing _something_ that had happened to do with "Potter".

Theo finally realised that he couldn't trust the two hot-headed seekers to figure something out by themselves. Although many wondered why he had been put in the house of snakes rather than badgers, Theo had rather a devious way of thinking when he put his mind to it. And now was the perfect time to do just that.

That day in Charms class? When they just so happened to have an assignment and neither Harry nor Theo had someone to work with? _Totally_ coincidental.

And how Harry found out that Draco wasn't 'evil'? And learnt a bit about his backstory? That topic just _randomly_ came up into conversation.

And how Theo convinced – sorry, _helped_ \- Harry to realise about his bisexuality?

Yeah, that was definitely not set up for during weeks of subtle inclinations and backhanded comments. _Definitely_ not.

"… and then my _stomach_ felt like an overpowered Tickling Hex had been sent straight at it…"

But it was, and still is, worth it. The smirk on Theo's face was one of satisfaction.

 **XxXxXxXxXxX**

Hermione walked in to the Great Hall, quickly spotting Harry amidst the sea of red and gold. As she drew closer, she noticed his eyebrows were furrowed and he was staring at his plate.

"What's wrong, Harry?" she asked, sitting next to him.

She could practically see the wheels in his head turning as he looked at her.

"Don't laugh, Hermione. I think Malfoy has cursed me."

"Harry, I'm not going to laugh at that, it could be serious! How do you know?"

"Whenever I look at him I think I start trembling, and when I touch him the part of my skin in contact tingles madly! This hasn't really happened before, so I think he has done something."

Hermione suddenly found it hard to control her giggles, but somehow kept a straight face.

"Harry, I haven't heard of that particular jinx but I will do some research for you, if you want?"

"Thanks so much, Hermione. If you haven't heard of it, I'm willing to bet Malfoy has used some sort of ancient and obscure curse for getting rid of enemies."

Hermione couldn't keep it in. She let out a large guffaw, but quickly slapped her hands over her mouth when Harry looked up sharply.

"What was that?"

Hermione suddenly started coughing as loud as she could and started to get up.

"Where are you going?"

"I don't feel well, I will pop into the Hospital Wing on the way to the Library," she said, hurriedly retreating backwards.

"Are you okay Hermione?"

She nodded quickly, signalling wildly with wide eyes at Neville sitting on the opposite side of the table, who looked startled, but unfailingly shoved the pumpkin pasties in front of Harry's face.

"Harry do you want some chicken wings?"

 **XxXxXxXxXxX**

"Dunderheads! Didn't I tell you _just last lesson_ that your assigned partners were for the year? Go back to the seats you were in yesterday!"

The Potions Master sneered at the sheepish looks on his student's faces as they shuffled around the room. When everyone was once again seated he spoke.

"Today, we are brewing Amortenia. Open your books to page three hundred and four."

He didn't particularly like the looks on Theodore Nott and Hermione Granger's faces as they turned and whispered fiercely into each other's ear. He sighed.

"Instructions are on the board," Snape said, flicking his wand at the board, on which chalk immediately sprung up and started scribbling down on, "and the ingredients are, as always, in the student storeroom. Get to work."

 **XxXxXxXxXxX**

Harry glared at Snape as he stood up, his chair sliding back a few inches more than intended, and sulkily moved his books and cauldron over to where his partner was sitting.

"Malfoy."

"Potter."

Harry ignored the weird feeling in his stomach – bloody curse, – pulled out his chair, and slumped into it.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Well aren't you going to get the ingredients?"

"I did it last time, it's your turn."

Harry saw Malfoy roll his eyes before getting up and heading towards the store room. Harry let out the breath he didn't know he was holding and looked over to Theo who, for some reason, winked at him before busily getting his cauldron ready.

Harry just shook his head and opened his textbook.

 **XxXxXxXxXxX**

As he walked closer, he saw Potter turn the pages with the cutest frown on his fa– wait, what? Did he just think that? Did he just – no, he must have been mistaken. There's no _way_ that _anything_ about Potter could be considered – _cute_.

Draco shook his head as he came over. What had come over him then? Never mind, he will forget about it soon and never bring it up again.

However, he spoke too soon. The very image of Potter biting his lip softly as he read over the ingredients made his thoughts go haywire for no apparent reason.

Draco was shocked at his own behaviour. He forced himself to look away from Potter's adorable face – _no, Draco! Stop thinking that! What the_ hell _is wrong with you?_

As they worked, he finally came to the realisation that it must have been the potion fumes in the air. _Darned love potions!_

 **XxXxXxXxXxX**

Harry looked over to Malfoy. He was muttering to himself and shaking his head.

"Having conversations with yourself is the first sign of madness, you know." Harry said.

Well, he _meant_ to say. The words refused to come out of his mouth, for some reason.

Harry eventually gave up, and instead tried to say this.

"Let's start on the potion, okay?"

This time, the words fell out easily.


	3. Amortenia Revelations

**Disclaimer: all rights to Harry Potter go to J.K. Rowling and the Warner Brothers. Whoever it is, not me :(  
Thanks HogwartsApprentice for simply telling me this was good. ;D**

Harry sat back down on his bed. The boys in his dorm were having their annual start-of-year gossip (though no one admitted it was gossip, because that was inherently girly) but for some reason Harry wasn't as interested as he usually was.

"Harry, what girl do you think looks hotter this year?"

Harry's traitorous brain could not come up with anyone suitable to mention. For some reason, molten-lead grey eyes and blonde hair was the only thing arising in his mind. Harry felt weirded out.

"Um, I'm not sure."

"Come on," Ron prompted, "there's got to be _someone_?"

Harry, once again, racked his brain to think of the girls he had seen over that week.

"Maybe… Lavender Brown?" Harry hadn't really seen her around that week, but she was the first girl that had popped into his mind.

"Harry, I just said her."

"Oh."

Harry frowned at himself. He usually had no trouble thinking about the girls that had definitely matured… physically… over the summer. But today, his thoughts kept jumping back to Malfoy.

That stupid curse.

 **XxXxXxXxX**

"Goodnight, Blaise, Theo."

"Night Draco."  
"Sleep well, Draco."

He laid his head on the pillow, mind still whirling. That day had been completely mental.

 _Flashback_

"I have looked around the classroom and it appears that all of you have completed the first stage of your potion. Amortenia needs to be tended to for three months, so this potion will be a long-term project.

However, as your potion brews it shall become more potent, and the effects will start to increase. After the first stage, which is now, you should be able to detect at least one smell familiar or attractive when you smell the potion.

The results will be different for each person. You shall be documenting what you discover as the weeks go by. Get out your parchment and start your research."

Draco looked to the left at Potter. He was slightly surprised to see bright green eyes staring back at him. He quickly looked away, feeling quite exposed.

"You go first. Smell the potion and tell me what you can recognise."

He saw Potter roll his eyes but comply. Draco watched as the boy leaned over the cauldron, inhaling the fumes.

Draco felt himself react before his brain caught up.

"NO! Don't inhale them, you idiot! You are meant to _smell_ them!" Draco shoved Potter's head away from the potion unconsciously as he called for his godfather. "Professor! _Potter_ started to inhale the fumes. Will it do anything to him?"

Snape immediately stalked over, staring at Harry with disgust. "Idiot boy, you don't inhale any potion without being expressively told so! Luckily enough, this Amortenia is only at the first stage. The effects should only last for a few hours. Have you touched anyone since you did that?"

Draco saw Harry frown at him but was unable to think of what he had done.

"Malfoy touched me on my head."

"What? When did I do that?"

"You did just then! You're such a lying bast-"

Suddenly Potter doubled down in pain, clutching his head.  
"Argh!"

Snape sneered. "I am sorry to inform you, Mr Malfoy, that you have indeed touched Mr Potter. Whether purposefully or not is not important now.

I cannot talk to you about this now. However, both of you come visit me after class. It would also be extremely prudent to not mention this to anyone."

With that, he swept off. _Snape always was one for dramatics,_ Draco thought. _Some things never change._

 _End flashback_

However, it was what his godfather had informed him and Potter that was keeping Draco up. He kept replaying their meeting in his head, trying to remember every single detail, as he had been quite surprised as to what had resulted.

Draco sighed, and turned over to his side. What was Potter doing right now? Probably sleeping.

 **XxXxXxXxX**

Harry groaned softly. He was extremely unhappy. His and Malfoy's meeting with Snape hadn't gone too well.

 _Flashback_

"You are _extremely_ lucky this Amortenia is not fully developed. If it was, and you had inhaled the fumes, you would have been immediately compelled to, putting this lightly, _show affection_ to the one who has touched you."

"You mean I would kiss him?"

" _Yes_ , Potter. You would have kissed him."

Malfoy's face screwed up into a grimace. Harry thought he could hear disgusted noises coming from the other boy but quickly realised it was himself and shut his mouth.

"But what happens to Potter now, Professor? Because it wasn't fully mature?"

Snape grinned maliciously.  
"He will find himself unable to stop thinking about you."

"That's all?" Harry felt relieved. Yeah, thinking about Malfoy all day would suck, but it's not like it wasn't happening already – wait, what?

"Unfortunately not, Mr Potter. You will also find yourself unable to tell Mr Malfoy anything but the truth, and you will find yourself drawn to him during the day."

"What? No! Can't you reverse this?"

The biggest thing worrying Harry was what would happen if Malfoy could ask him whatever he wanted and Harry had to answer truthfully. That would be bad. Very bad.

Meanwhile, Malfoy's grin was unnerving.

"I'm sorry, Mr Potter. The antidote would take longer to brew than if you let the effects wear off."

"How long will that be, Professor?" Malfoy finally spoke up.

"A few weeks, at the very least. You might continue feeling the effects for a month. Meanwhile, Mr Potter will suffer dull pains if you do not have physical closeness to him for a couple of hours each day. These will increase if you are further away from each other, to the point of being unable to move."

"By physical closeness, do you mean touching?"

"Not skin-to-skin contact, but you will need longer if it isn't. I suggest you sit next to each other at dinner."

Suddenly that grin slid off Malfoy's face.

"But Professor!"

"Do you want to sleep next to Mr Potter, Mr Malfoy? Because that is the alternative."

Harry's brain told him that it wasn't such a bad idea. Luckily he managed to start coughing loudly before he mentioned that fact.

Harry swore Snape's eyes had a weird Dumbledore-ish twinkle in them for a second before he continued speaking, saving both Draco and Harry from replying. Harry refused to look at the other boy.

"I am assuming you are going to sit together."

Harry started straight ahead. He had to focus all his attention on clamping his mouth together. The thought occurred to him that it was because he was in the presence of that damned Slytherin.

Malfoy, however, must have had other ideas. "Let's skip dinner in the Great Hall tomorrow and go down to the kitchens. We can speak about this there."

 _End flashback_

Harry resigned himself to the fact that he wasn't getting to sleep any time soon.

 **A.N. (if anyone ever reads these things – I usually don't :D)  
So sorry I haven't posted in a while! I was away on holiday, which was fabulous, thanks for asking, everyone ;D**

 **But school's finally come back and I have found time to write a new chapter. It would be great if you could let me know what you think so I have motivation for the next chapter!**


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